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In your Aug. 24 editorial, you were correct to say that "patients have a right to know" about medical errors. But patients also have a right to know that some of the reports on mistakes have been based on methods that are questionable and have overestimated the numbers.

For example, the Institute of Medicine in 1999 estimated the number of preventable deaths to be between 44,000 and 98,000 yearly. Unfortunately, only the high number of that estimate is ever mentioned by the media.

This exaggerates the number of errors and unnecessarily frightens the public. Worse, it undermines their confidence in the medical profession.

Interestingly, the Aug. 20, 2000, issue of American Medical News reported that a follow-up study on medical errors placed the number of preventable deaths as between 5,000 and 15,000. But that report is never mentioned by the media.

Even one mistake is a tragedy. And the public certainly has a right to know about them. But it should also know that doctors and hospitals work hard reviewing such incidents and making every effort to make sure they don't recur.